Current financial markets are characterized by enormous computer systems centrally operated in select financial centers. These elaborate data processing systems govern market transactions for the exchange of large sums of capital via interactive participation of many buyers and sellers and thus form discrete trading markets or "exchanges". Specifically, traders are in continuous communication via the computer networks with other traders, forming transactions at select price and volume for particular securities. Access to these markets are via established trading applications such as TSS, NASD, and other custom design applications. Operation of a representative trading application is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,044 to Kalmus, et al., the contents of which are incorporated by reference as if restated in full.
To support their efforts on behalf of their clients, the traders have access to a plethora of information services, e.g., Reuters, Telerate, Quotron and Bridge, which provide a cross section of important data to the trader (often in real time) to permit more successful and knowledgeable trading.
To participate in this activity, the traders are often equipped with powerful multipurpose work stations interconnected to that selection of information services and market participants important to that trader. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,032 to Trojan, et al. provides a specific form of work station environment for participation in a select market; the teachings of this patent are incorporated by reference as if restated in full. The traders' overall performance is significantly enhanced by their ability to keep abreast of market defining events, via on-line data acquisition.
The importance of trading in a timely manner simply cannot be overstated. The rapid movement from one security to another based on the changing financial environment is critical to the overall profitability of the transactions and the ultimate success of the trader. Interruptions to the markets of interest simply cannot be tolerated for long, and therefore, must be avoided. However, the centralized level of activity by major brokerage houses to effect the trading patterns on behalf of their clients has created a separate and only recently recognized danger of interruption.
This risk was brought into prime focus by the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Building complex in lower Manhattan--the "twin towers" located within blocks of Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading floor. This event brought the major market traders "off-line" for a significant length of time and represented a far greater level of service interruption to market activity on the NYSE and other markets than ever previously imagined. Even so, participants recognized that it could have been far worse in extent interference with capital market activity. The repercussions of being off-line for a major brokerage house are enormous, especially if world events are fast moving and create significant swings in asset value.
Indeed, although the bombing of the World Trade Building was a high profile event, it was not unique. Such events have occurred over the course of the last few years and include the flooding of the Chicago river--shutting down the Future Exchange in Chicago for a protracted period. Other interruptions in service were precipitated by trading floor fires in New York, Hurricane Andrew, a flood in New York associated with a water main break, and certain man-made interruptions (e.g., Audits). During the course of these interruptions, persons utilizing certain brokerage services were precluded from assessing market conditions and trading in response to these conditions.
The problem and vulnerability of the current trading systems reside, to some degree, in their centralized location coupled with the inability to reroute traders from the network of dedicated computer terminals for on-line trading. A catastrophic event can therefore take capital transactions off-line in a key market, causing short term losses and long term negative perceptions of the market performance. The present invention has been developed to address this problem.